Our Sites

'Harlem Shake' Prompts Billboard to Revamp Top 100

Thank the "Harlem Shake" for pushing Billboard to modernize its Top 100 singles chart.

When the song was released hardly anyone noticed, but once the bass-heavy track exploded into a meme, Billboard knew it was time to make good on its two years of deliberations with YouTube and factor the social video site in its 55-year-old formula.

Now along with download sales and Spotify steams, video virality will help Billboard determine what's trending in music, right now, regardless of how it's being consumed.

“The music business today — much to its credit — has started to learn that there are lots of different ways a song can be a hit, and lots of different ways that the business can benefit from it being a hit," Bill Werde, the magazine's editorial director, told the Times.

Case in point: Psy's "Gangnam Style" and Carley Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe" both caught fire online thanks to tens of thousands of YouTube views. According to the Times, "Harlem Shake" had 103 million views in the U.S., sold 262,000 downloads, and was the third-most downloaded track of last week.